Introduction | Reference Sources | Indexes & Databases | Internet Resources | Citation Styles

For further research assistance, please contact Maureen Perry (mperry@usm.maine.edu; 753-6546), Arts and Humanities/Social and Behavioral Sciences/Leadership and Organizational Studies Liaison at Lewiston-Auburn College Library, University of Southern Maine.

In order to find books, journal titles, videos, government documents and other materials held in the University of Maine System you will need to consult URSUS, the online catalog. Because journal article citations are not individually included in URSUS, you will need to use a discipline-specific index to find this information (see Resources by Subject).

If you do not know the exact subject heading describing the topic you need, try doing a keyword search using other word/s related to that topic and then click on the subject heading links found within the relevant records to find additional, useful resources.

The Library of Congress provides a breakdown of the call number classification scheme. To find a listing of call numbers click on any of the subcategories to see more detail.

The following is a listing of selected subject headings useful for finding books on graduate school preparation. Each subject heading is hotlinked directly to URSUS

Graduate Record Examination

Graduate Record Examination study guides

Graduate students -- scholarships, fellowships, etc. -- United States

Miller Analogies Test

Miller Analogies Test study guides

Universities and colleges graduate work

Universities and colleges -- United States -- graduate work -- finance

Vocational guidance

To find books, journal titles, videos, government documents and other materials not available through the University of Maine System or MaineInfoNet, please check Worldcat, which includes bibliographic records for more than 36 million items held at OCLC member libraries throughout the world and is updated daily.

To obtain materials not located at your USM, but still within URSUS, you will need to click on the Request button on the URSUS screen and enter your name and barcode number (found under the barcode on your USM Card, which begins with 25022....). Your barcode will need to be activated at the Circulation Desk.

If the item is not available through the University of Maine System (URSUS) or Maine InfoNet you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (Illiad).

While reference books cannot replace the help of advisors and others, they provide some useful background information. The following items are print resources available within the University of Southern Maine system.

For Choosing a Graduate School. . .

Peterson's graduate programs in business, education, health, information studies, law & social work
LEW Reference L901 P46 BK.6

Peterson's graduate programs in engineering & applied sciences
POR, GOR, & LEW Reference L901 .P46 bk.5

Peterson's graduate programs in the biological sciences
LEW, POR, & GOR Reference L901 P46 BK.3

Peterson's graduate programs in the humanities, arts & social sciences
GOR, POR,, & LEW Reference L901 P46 BK.2

Peterson's graduate programs in the physical sciences, mathematics, agricultural sciences, the environment & natural resources
GOR, POR, & LEW Reference L901 P46 BK.4

For Applying to Graduate School . . .  

How to write a winning personal statement for graduate and professional school
POR Stacks & LEW Reference LB2351.52.U6 S74

Insider's guide to graduate programs in clinical psychology
LEW Stacks RC467.7 I57

For Funding Your Graduate Education. . .

Graduate guide to grants
POR Reference LB2338 .G683  1998-99

The higher education moneybook for women & minorities
LEW Reference LB2338 .Y68 1997 

Peterson's scholarships, grants & prizes
LEW Reference LB2337.4 P475 

For Succeeding at Admissions Tests. . .

Cracking the GRE
LEW Reference & POR Stacks LB2367.4 .C73

How to prepare for the GRE, graduate record examination : general test
LEW Reference LB2367.4 .B76  

How to prepare for the MAT Miller analogies test
LEW Reference & GOR Stacks LB2367.6 S74

Because of the lengthy publishing cycle for a book, information in a book is not always current. Periodical articles are current sources of information. There are two main types of periodicals: scholarly and popular. Scholarly periodicals are usually referred to as journals. Articles in journals contain reports of primary research; the articles are written by experts in the field and for other researchers/scholars; use terms and language specific to that discipline; may include graphs, charts, etc. related to the topic; most often are peer reviewed via an editorial board; are published by professional organization or society, university, research centers, scholarly presses; and often include a bibliography. Popular periodical articles contain general information; are written using easily understood language that appeals to a varied audience; are usually written by journalists or others who are not experts in the field; do not include citations; has a limited or non-existent editorial review board; and may contain glossy photographs. The Finding Articles tutorial provides more information on how to find articles.

ERIC
Coverage from 1966
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) provides education information for K-12 teachers, school administrators, education faculty, school psychologists and education students. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. This bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations goes back to 1966. More than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (from years 1993-2004) are included in the database. Full-text articles are also available from more than 80% of the 1,000 education-related journals indexed.

PsycINFO
Coverage from 1887
Index to the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines, including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Coverage includes references and abstracts to over 1,300 journals in more than 20 languages, and to book chapters and books in the English language. The database includes information from empirical studies, case studies, surveys, bibliographies, literature reviews, discussion articles, conference reports and dissertations. Updated weekly.

There is no authority control for the Internet. In choosing Internet resources it is imperative to evaluate the authenticity of the source. Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources (UCLA College Library) provides excellent evaluation criteria. The following selected resources have been chosen because of authenticity and comprehensiveness of coverage.

For Choosing a Graduate School. . .

Directory of Recognized Organizations (Council on Higher Education Accreditation)

Graduate Program Rankings (Education & Social Sciences Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

For Funding Your Graduate Education. . .

FAFSA on the Web (U.S. Department of Education)

FinAid!

For Succeeding at Admissions Tests. . .

General

Educational Testing Service

Kaplan Educational Centers

Specialized

Law School Admission Council

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Home

Take the GMAT

Most graduate courses require research. The sources listed here will help you cite research materials ethically, legally, and correctly.

USM has a site license for Endnote, a personal reference database program. The main functions of this program include maintenance of a database of references, downloading references from other databases, using the database to link to references in word-processed document, and generating a bibliography in the correct style for publications. See the Endnote Help for further information.

APA Documentation (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish : Psychology and Related Fields
LEW Reference BF76.5 .C645 1993

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition
POR and GOR Reference BF76.7 .P83 2001; LEW Reserve BF76.7 .P83 2001

Online: A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources

Using American Psychlogical Association (APA) Format (Updated to 5th Edition) (Purdue University Online Writing Lab)

Created by: Maureen Perry
Created on: 01.25.2006
Last Updated: 01.25.2006